Top News Story

Gulf Times

THE US military is preparing plans to bomb Irans nuclear facilities, backed by a submarine-launched ballistic missile strike, a leading British newspaper reported yesterday.

The news came as Iran warned that it could leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would theoretically put it in the same position as Israel  which is not required to open its nuclear facilities to inspection.

A US attack would be a last resort to try to thwart the development of an atom bomb by the Iranians, the Sunday Telegraph said.

Pentagon planners are urgently drawing-up lists of targets and working out the logistics of a strike, the newspaper quoted a top official as saying.

This is more than just the standard military contingency assessment, the newspaper quoted a senior Pentagon adviser. This has taken on much greater urgency in recent months. The Pentagons strategy for an attack would probably involve aerial bombardment by long-distance B2 bombers, each armed with up to 20 tonnes of precision weapons including the latest bunker-busting bombs, the Telegraph said. They would fly from bases in Missouri with mid-air refuelling.

Conventional ballistic missiles could also be fired from Trident submarines, if they are rearmed with non-nuclear weapons in time. The Bush administration has announced that it was to refit them with conventional arms within two years.

I really get annoyed with the press and web bloggers who feel compelled to discuss this sort of thing, especially in detail. I doubt the story is fully accurate. But I also fully believe that the pentagon's war planning wienies have got to have all kinds of contingency plans. Intelligence is always an issue. Even if we only hit or take out half of their facilities it would hurt their capabilities. The problem is that Iran (unlike Iraq) is a country that really can retaliate effectively if we attack them. And we probably do not have the means right now to invade and occupy the country. If they decide to retaliate by closing the straits of Hormuz we are in deep trouble. Or they could just start a more or less unrestricted policy of aiding the guerrillas in Iraq (as opposed to a somewhat restrained policy so far). They have a lot of options on how to make life difficult for us. And our ability to respond is limited. We need to tread carefully.

7
posted on 02/13/2006 4:02:54 PM PST
by jecIIny
(You faithful, let us pray for the Catechumens! Lord Have Mercy)

I agree we can hurt them. But as I said, they unlike Iraq a few years ago, have the ability to strike back effectively. If they close the Straits of Hormuz (which they could do fairly easily), they would instantly create a worldwide economic crisis. It could require a large scale military invasion of Iran to reopen the straits. The logistics involved in such an operation would mean that the straits would be kept closed long enough to possibly plunge much of the world into a depression. Then there is the expense involved. We have a president who would rather walk barefoot the length of a football field strewn with broken glass and red hot coals than raise taxes. The national credit card is pretty well maxxed out. How will we pay for this? Manpower? The only way we could do this would be a massive mobilization of reserves. I am sure I don't need to describe the consequences of that. And even if we could do that it is not sustainable long term unless we reinstate conscription. We are the world's only superpower. But we are not omnipotent. There is a serious danger in not acknowledging the limits of our power. Ask Napoleon and Hitler (both of whom had their entire country's on a full war footing, something W seems extremely unlikely to even contemplate).

10
posted on 02/13/2006 4:31:02 PM PST
by jecIIny
(You faithful, let us pray for the Catechumens! Lord Have Mercy)

Bulgaria as a NATO member will join a possible strike on Iran should the Alliance decide to launch such an attack, Bulgarian Defence Minister Vesselin Bliznakov said.

Talking to private bTV channel Bliznakov said that the US might attack Iran in an aim to stop it from developing nuclear weapons. In his words this might happen should the situation become really complicated.

Bulgaria boasts really good relations with the countries from the Arab world, but there are not enough guarantees that Iran is not developing a nuclear weapon, Vliznakov underlined.

There are reports that the US military are drawing up a plan for attack on Iran in an aim to stop it from developing nuclear weapons. The plan is a military back-up in case diplomatic efforts fail, a UK newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, on Monday UN diplomats said that Iran has restarted uranium enrichment work. They said it had begun feeding uranium gas into centrifuges - a first step in a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or bomb material.

Tehran had warned it would resume enrichment after the UN nuclear watchdog decided to report it to the UN Security Council nine days ago.

- The last thing we need are more "dissident" or "exile" groups feeding the American public more WMD hysteria and bad "intelligence". We went through all of this in Iraq. Let's not go through all this again.

- Iraq yielded -0- WMD. None, nada, nix, nuthin'.

- If it's in Syria (the WMD), why don't we just get it?

- It's only the U.S., Brittan and Israel this time around.

- Oil prices will soar to unsustainable levels. The economies of the west will become a shambles.

- We won't have the luxury of a six month build up. Iran can sortie six to ten plus divisions into Iraq and overwhelm our dispersed 150,000 occupation force.

- We can't find Bin Laden, one guy. How are we going to find dozens of facilities in a closed society?

Problem,

How do we save Nation States that won't save themselves? Until Iranians, Iraqi es and Palestinians decide to live in the 20th century, there is nothing we can do short of World War III to change their sordid existence.

Solutions?

- The President of Iran is a total and complete nutjob. Take him out with a deniable strike now. Take out the leading Mullahs next. Plausible deniability ya know. Attack their military leadership in a precise manner. They would do it to us if they could. They already tried. Gloves are now off.

It's either a very tight limited war we fight or it's time for Congress to vote on a formal Declaration of War against Iran and get it over with. With all the consequences that may entail.

Before we do that however, I want our troops on the ground with real evidence of their nuclear weapons capability.

We can't do Iraq II (Iran) until we deal with Iraq I.

14
posted on 02/13/2006 6:23:28 PM PST
by Milwaukee_Guy
(Don't hit them between the eyes. Hit them right -in- the eyes!)

"Raising taxes isn't a great way to get money. And we've got plenty of money for a war. You're not from 'round these parts are ya sonny?"

Funny. Last time I checked we were drowning in red ink. Maybe I was reading the wrong budget. Sorry, I am an old fashioned Republican. Translation: "debt" is a four letter word. No variation on the word "Tax" comes out to four letters. I don't like taxes. But its the price of citizenship. If you wanna fight a war you need to pay for it. And we aren't.

18
posted on 02/13/2006 8:30:04 PM PST
by jecIIny
(You faithful, let us pray for the Catechumens! Lord Have Mercy)

"Conventional ballistic missiles could also be fired from Trident submarines, if they are rearmed with non-nuclear weapons in time. The Bush administration has announced that it was to refit them with conventional arms within two years."

This guy is an idiot. We will use cruise shots from a host of platforms from Aegis to subs to freakin' B-52s but there won't be any ballistic shots involved.It would be an expensive and unneeded effort. Besides the LGB's and cruises are way more accurate.

20
posted on 02/14/2006 9:56:24 PM PST
by ping jockey
(radical islam; the great evil of all times.)

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